The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for determining an ageing state of a lubricant.
The following discussion of related art is provided to assist the reader in understanding the advantages of the invention, and is not to be construed as an admission that this related art is prior art to this invention.
The quality of lubricants in mechanical and plant engineering, especially in drive technology, is a significant influencing variable which determines the availability, the reliability and the safety of the entire drive train or of the lubricated components. Experience in the maintenance of transmission units shows that even the best lubricants age and have to be changed. In such cases there is an ever greater trend away from scheduled lubricant change intervals to state-dependent change periods.
Generally-applicable criteria as to when the quality of a lubricant becomes inadequate do not exist however. As a rule an individual limit value is to be observed for each application and each lubricant.
It would therefore be desirable and advantageous to address prior art shortcomings.